Professional Documents
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1 NATS Truffle Dog Training
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ecology, along with landowner forest management Although each student reached the same dead end
considerations, is presented by Dr. Dan Luoma of as DeShazer, their findings contributed to the final
OSU’s College of Forestry. This introductory breakthrough, Wood says. That came earlier this
material provides class participants with a broad year when Wood decided to try a new technique
context for understanding how the prizes of the to identify the chemical called solid-phase micro
hunt (truffles) fit into the webs of life in a forest. extraction.
Mysti Weber, also a NATS member, assists
Jeannine in the class. During previous attempts, students had dissolved
the mushroom in a solvent before using a gas
chromatograph-gas spectrometer, a machine that
Student Question About Mushroom’s separates, weighs and fragments molecules to
Maple Syrup Odor Takes 27 Years to identify unknown compounds. But that technique
Answer sullied the sample with impurities.
From Humbolt Now
With the new method, Wood was able to isolate
the gas molecules responsible for the scent. He
When it comes to long-running student questions, determined that “quabalactone III” likely forms
Darvin DeShazer’s (’72, Biology, ’86, Education) from free amino acids after the mushroom dries.
might take the cake.
The chemical is also found in the flowers of the
DeShazer was a graduate student in 1985 when he Rosita de Cacao tree, native to South America.
became interested in the odor-causing chemical of Aztecs once used the flowers as perfume and to
the candy cap mushroom. Frequently used in flavor chocolate drinks.
cookies, cakes and ice cream, the mushroom is
odorless when fresh but smells like butterscotch or The dry candy cap fragrance is so strong—and
maple syrup when dried. long lasting—that Wood still uses the sample he
picked in the woods 25 years ago. Today, an
So he asked Chemistry Professor William Wood, a eight-ounce package sells for about $150 online.
specialist in chemical ecology. Wood didn’t know
the answer, so he encouraged DeShazer to help Wood says the paper was a group effort because
him find an explanation. Their research finally each student’s research brought him closer to the
ended last month when Wood identified the answer. The other alumni authors are Jay
chemical as “quabalactone III,” using a relatively Brandes, Brian Foy, Christopher Morgan and
new technique called solid-phase micro extraction. Thierry D. Mann.
DeShazer, now a high school biology teacher in
He published the findings in a recent issue of Petaluma, Ca. and science advisor for a local
Biosystematics and Ecology. “It was a question mushroom club, says he was amazed to hear
that was bothering me for about 25 years,” Wood Wood had made headway.
says.
“I was little surprised that he was actually still
Interestingly enough, the question didn’t pique working on it,” says DeShazer. “But it was
Wood’s curiosity initially, DeShazer recalls: “It definitely satisfying.” He now uses the story as a
wasn’t on his radar.” teachable moment in class. “High school kids are
But as the years went on—and DeShazer’s incredibly impatient so the fact that it carried on
question remained unanswered—Wood’s for a quarter of a century and finally yielded
fascination grew. After DeShazer graduated, results was kind of a big deal,” DeShazer says.
Wood assigned a succession of four students over
Not long after the research was published,
several years to pick up where DeShazer’s
someone asked him to bake a cake for a school
research had left off. They and DeShazer are listed
fundraiser. “Of course I put the mushrooms in it,”
as co-authors on the paper.
DeShazer says. “It took the highest bid.”
Melanogaster Butter
1 Stick Butter
1-3 Melanogaster truffles
Melt a stick of butter, shave (or scrape) in a few Melanogasters (perhaps 1-3,
depending on their size), stir in and simmer briefly. Pour into a teacup and
refrigerate overnight. To serve, pop solidified butter out of teacup upside down
onto a plate using a spatula. The Melanogaster will have sunk to the bottom, and
as served should form a dark layer on top of the butter dome. This spread has an intriguing earthy flavor best
appreciated on a mild-flavored bread.
Matt Trappe
When these chips first appeared at the NATS Annual Potluck, a near riot ensued as the faithful gathered
around for a taste or two or three. If you are lucky to find a quantity of truffles, try this one out!
Truffles (many Rhizopogon species are large and suitable, especially Rhizopogon
occidentalis)
Butter
Seasoned salt
Garlic Salt according to taste
Slice the truffles into thin (1/4 inch thick) slices while fresh. Dry the slices. Brush
them with melted butter to which can be added garlic salt, seasoned salt, etc. Cook the buttered slices in the
microwave over for about 5 minutes (until brown). Each species will require a slightly different time, so
experiment a little. Dip the prepared dried truffle chips in your favorite dip for a truly unusual treat!
A memorial fund honoring long-time NATS treasurer member Welles Bushnell has donated truffle-related
books to the Corvallis and Salem public libraries. The below plates have been inserted into the books
honoring Welles:
Ian R. Hall, Gordon T. Brown, Alessandra Zambonelli, 2007 Taming the Truffle, The History, Lore, and Science of t
Miller, O. K. Jr. & Miller, H. H. 2006 North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible a
Bucquet-Grenet, Sabine, Dubarr, Francoise and Stella, Alain. 2001 The Little Book of Truffles
Safina, Rosario and Sutton, Judith. 2003 Ultimate Luxury, Everyday Pleasure
Santore, Charles. 2011 Three Hungry Pigs and the Wolf Who Came to Dinner
Two copies of each of the books that NATS sells were given to both the Salem and Corvallis libraries
Maser, C., Claridge A.W., and Trappe J.M. 2008 Trees, Truffles and Beasts–How Forests Function.
Trappe, M., F. Evans & J. Trappe 2007 Field Guide to North American Truffles: Hunting, Iden
NATS Meeting
November 6, 2012
The meeting was held at the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy center, 128 SW 9th Street in Corvallis.
President Marilyn Hinds called the meeting to order. Introductions were made around the room.
The October 9th minutes were presented. Pat Rawlinson made a motion to accept the minutes as
presented, Sylvia Donovan seconded the motion and the minutes were approved by the vote of the
attending membership.
Treasurer Zelda Carter gave the treasurer's report. Zelda has paid for all the reference books with book
plates and there is $19.85 remaining of the $439.25 funds donated is for the Welles Bushnell Memorial
fund. Zelda is awaiting receipts for purchases of books and TDT.
Mysti Weber, Membership Coordinator gave the membership report. She has finished the 2012
membership year and has started the 2013 membership year. There where 194 members, the income of
There was no foray report at the November meeting. The November foray will be held the 24th so that fresh
truffles may be available for the December 1st NATS annual potluck and meeting. The foray will be in Kings
Valley on a site where black truffles (Leucangium carthusian) may be found. The details of that and all the
forays will be on the NATS website.
Joyce Eberhart gave the Welles Bushnell Memorial book report. The books have been purchased, the
book plates attached and delivered to the Corvallis and Salem Libraries.
Marilyn Hinds has organized the second Truffle Dog Training. Dan has reserved the Forestry Club cabin
for Truffle Dog Training the 10th of November. Interest has increased and we have several registrations for
the class. There are 3 dogs and three audits ensuring that we can cover the cost of the workshop.
Sylvia gave the T-shirt report. Jim Trappe has approved the vole design created by Tate McMillen; Sylvia
will present the designs to the board for perusal at the next board meeting. We have an adequate amount
of t-shirts with different designs; therefore we won't need to order the new designs for a while.
Marilyn Hinds gave a report on the NATS October events. NATS was present at the Lincoln City Mushroom
event, the Yachats Mushroom, the Oregon Mushroom Society event manned by Adrian Beyerle and the Mt
Pisgah Mushroom Festival during October.
Marilyn Hinds showed the new, very nice banner for display and identification of our club at various events.
We appreciate Marilyn for initiating and seeing this project through.
Vice President Joyce Eberhart introduced the speaker Dr. Luis Garcia-Montero, visiting from the University
of Madrid, Spain. His talk is titled, “Research on the ecology of black truffles in central Spain”.
The meeting was adjourned and delicious refreshments provided by Helen Yahiku were served.
NATS Meeting
October 9, 2012
The meeting was held at the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy center, 128 SW 9th Street in Corvallis.
President Marilyn Hinds called the meeting to order
The June 5th minutes were presented. Pat Rawlinson made a motion to accept the minutes as presented,
Mysti Weber seconded the motion and the minutes were approved by the vote of the attending
membership.
Treasurer Zelda Carter gave the treasurer's report. There is $5355.58 in the NATS bank account.
$439.25 is for the Welles Bushnell Memorial fund and $4916.33 in the general fund.
Mysti Weber, Membership Coordinator gave the membership report. There are 194 members, the income
of which amounts to $2647.95.
Sylvia Donovan gave the foray report and said they all had a really good time. The foray was the weekend
of October 6th and 7th and held at the Hackleman Creek Old Growth Grove and other areas around Clear
Lake. The foray was in cooperation with the Forest Service to seek out rare truffles in the area; the Forest
Service provided the cabins for people who stayed overnight. Rhizopogon spp. was the most abundant
The next truffle foray will be in Kings Valley on a site where black truffles may be found (details will be
provided before the foray). The unusual date for the foray is November 24th so we may harvest truffles for
the December 1st NATS potluck.
Welles Bushnell Memorial: Joyce Eberhart gave the Welles Bushnell memorial book report. The book list
is almost complete and will be given to the board when it is determined that all the books can be found.
Joyce is working with Grass Roots Bookstore to locate the books on the list. Joyce may be able to obtain
the less available books from Germany via the Internet. There will be about 20 books with name plates
donated to the Corvallis Library and six books will be donated to the Salem Library.
Dan has tentatively, and depending on interest for the class, reserved the Forestry Club cabin for Truffle
Dog Training the 24th of November.
Peter Kennedy may want us to obtain Alpova spp. truffles for research in his lab.
Sylvia gave the T-shirt report. We have received the t-shirts from John. Sylvia has Tate McMillen, a
commercial graphic artist, working on new t-shirt designs. She has received preliminary designs and will
show them to the board at the next board meeting. We won't need to buy new t-shirts for a while, so this is
a work in progress.
Marilyn Hinds gave the report of the Lincoln City Mushroom cook-off. We sold three items, tasted the great
cuisine, talked to people, and may have cultivated a place for a possible foray on a tree farm in the
Willamina, Oregon area. We felt the event was good for education and introducing people to the North
American Truffling Society.
The Willamette Valley Mycological Society asked (NATS) to advertise Taylor Lockwood's talk on our
website, Taylor Lockwood's talk will be on his travels, mushrooms, stories, and his new video DVD “In
Search of the Holy Veil” The talk will be at the Salem BLM Office at 1717 Fabry Road, S.E., Salem, OR
97306. Discussion followed. It was decided that it was OK to advertise the talk on the NATS website. We
may ask OMS and Willamette Valley Mycological Society to advertise our Truffle dog training courses on
their websites.
Marilyn Hinds asked for people to help at the Yachats Mushroom Festival the weekend of the 19th and Mt.
Pisgah.
Marilyn Hinds suggested that we get a NATS banner. Marilyn got an estimate of about $80.00 for a new
banner. She will develop the sign design. A motion was tendered, seconded, and the motion was carried
to obtain the banner.
Vice President Joyce Eberhart introduced the speaker, Dr. Jennifer Walker, postdoctoral researcher with
Peter Kennedy at Lewis and Clark College. She presented her talk “”Below ground fungal diversity: what
drives ectomycorrhizal community composition”.
The meeting was adjourned and delicious refreshments provided by Betty Orner were served.
Toby Esthay
In early October, Dan Luoma and Joyce Eberhart attended the Quadra Island Mushroom Festival. Quadra
Island is just a little ways off the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, about 200 miles north
of Victoria. On one of the collecting forays for the mushroom show, Joyce found an erumpent truffle that
Dan later identified as Tuber oregonense. It was about an inch and a half in diameter, with beautiful red
tones. Unfortunately, it was mostly immature, but there were a few spores present, and some odor was
detectable as it dried.
A bit of the truffle was used for DNA extraction, and sequencing showed it to match perfectly with T.
oregonense sequences submitted to GenBank by Greg Bonito. Previously, the most northern known
locations were in Vancouver, BC area including one collected in 1931 from Stanley Park.
The officers and board members of NATS greatly appreciate the enthusiasm
that our members have shown for our society.
You can help ensure that 2013 is another banner truffle year!
We are seeking more volunteer help with officer and committee chairperson activities
(secretary, foray leader, booth staffing, etc.) If you would like to be more involved,
please contact us. Thanks! For those of you who have not yet renewed your membership,
you can do so by mailing in your dues to the address below. If any of your contact
information (address, phone, email) has changed, please let us know so we can stay in
touch.
Name(s): Phone:
Address:
Email address(es):
Annual membership fees: $15 first family member, $10 each additional family member in the same household.
Businesses: $15. Individuals/Businesses from other countries: $20. Payable in US funds.
Growing On/In: Moss Mineral Rotten Needle Growing On/In: Moss Mineral Rotten Needle
(Circle one or more) Soil Wood Litter (Circle one or more) Soil Wood Litter
Other/Notes___________________________________ Other/Notes___________________________________
Overstory Trees_______________________________ Overstory Trees_______________________________
Understory Shrubs_____________________________ Understory Shrubs_____________________________
Fresh Notes (color, odor, etc.):___________________ Fresh Notes (color, odor, etc.):___________________
____________________________________________ ____________________________________________